All posts tagged ‘wii-ware’

Living in a family awash with Nintendo hardware makes a new clamshell gaming product significant and exciting for me. But having been stung with a string of attractive yet largely unimproved updates to the DS lineup (DSlite and DSXL both adding little to the existing functions), I’m a little more cautious.

The DSi eventually delivered more than I first expected – with some of my favorite games on the system now being DSi-ware (Starship Defense and Pulse Pinball). But it also took away the GBA slot, something I’ve still not really got over.

The 3DS console is happily more than just an iterative change though. In what may have originally been called the DS3 (after the original DS and DSi took the first two spots in the series), we have a genuine next generation in Nintendo handheld gaming.

Games

3DS Street Fighter (image: nintendo.com)

It’s unusual for Nintendo to put the leg work in to get third party support for their products — even years after release, never mind at launch. But perhaps they are turning over a new leaf as the 3DS has an impressive catalogue from the off: not only first party titles like Mariokart, Animal Crossing and Pilot Island, but also impressive third party support including Resident Evil, Super Street Fighter IV and Metal Gear.

I was also heartened to learn that you can transfer DSi-ware purchases from the DSi to the 3DS. If Nintendo are giving up an opportunity to make us buy our favorite games again, this must have been really high on the to do list. Our family has heavily invested here, and without this feature we would have had to think twice about trading in our DSi.